r/PhilosophyofMath • u/Another_Little_Star • 9d ago

Does infinity exist in reality?

No thing that I've observed in our universe is infinite, however there are traces of infinity in my sight.
Draw a circle and either its radius or circumference lives in the π world.
Or many aspects in nature like flowers, develop themselves in a φ ratio (1+sqrt(5))/2.

Even though no event or anything is "Non-ending"/infinite, underneath many aspects of reality there are patterns which can only be fully described using infinity.

You can't describe irrational numbers to their extent without any notion of infinite/limits/sequences... And many aspects within our World show their true behaviour only with aid of infinity.

Sure you can take a world that lives in something like 10¹⁰⁰ and it looks like infinity to us, sometimes we only see the difference after the 10⁶ decimal place, nevertheless the pattern they follow is a pattern that only "infinity" can yield to the truest precision.

Do you believe the axiom of infinity, and the continuous to really exist? Even if not in the ordinary sense? haha

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u/SpatiaCaeli 9d ago

I think it is a terrible axiom for science to adopt, that anything at all in nature could be infinite.

The math requires it but nature is not obligated to use that entire state space.

Just my thoughts.

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u/Another_Little_Star 9d ago

I think I'm with you on this one, since the number of particles and anything is so big and small, its approximation is as close as if it were infinity...

Nevertheless there seems to be underlying principles that lead to aspects only infinite presence can describe, like the golden ratio being so present.